The installation of scaffolding is time consuming and labor intensive. Often scaffolding is erected to a substantial height. Consequently, a perimeter containment screen, such as a mesh or other webbing, is often fastened to the outside of scaffolding as a safety measure to reduce the likelihood of debris falling to the ground and injuring pedestrians.
At present a number of approaches are taken to secure the mesh to the scaffold. One approach is to use a “twist tie” being a bendable piece of wire. The tie is manually inserted through the mesh, thereby piercing it, maneuvered around a scaffold “standard (i.e. the vertical scaffolding pole) and pulled back out of the mesh. The free ends of the tie are then twisted together, thereby securing the mesh to the pole as shown in FIG. 1.
A further approach is to use a rigid “J” shaped metal guide having a concave profile. The guide is forced through the mesh, around the scaffold pole and back out of the mesh. A plastic cable tie is then pushed along the inside of the guide so that it encircles the pole and its ends are then fastened together. FIG. 2 shows this last arrangement during application whereby the J-shaped guide 1 has been pushed through a mesh 3, around pole 5 and back out through the mesh. A plastic cable tie 7 has then been pushed into one end of the guide so that it encircles the pole 5 with its free ends on the side of the mesh opposite the pole to be fastened together in order to secure the mesh to the pole 5.
It will be realized that both of the above described approaches to fastening mesh to the scaffolding pole are relatively finicky and time consuming. Where the work is being performed at a height it may also be dangerous since two hands may be required so that the worker must remove both hands from a support, such as ladder for example.
It is an object of the present invention to address the above described problem and to provide an improvement, or at least a useful alternative, for securing mesh to scaffolding, than has hitherto been known in the prior art.